Hello Stranger
by MiamiBabe
Summary: Oneshot. This is something that wouldn't leave my brain after listening the oldie Hello Stranger. I recently heard it and my fav Plum couple came to mind and they wouldn't leave until I wrote it. Anyway, just a bit fluff. I hope you like it.


It had been six long months since he'd broken into her apartment to watch her sleep. He'd been called on a mission that didn't allow for any communication to occur. He remembered calling her on the way to the airport and letting her know he was going to be out of town and didn't know when he'd be back, but that if she needed anything to call Tank.

He'd known that the chance of the mission's success wasn't high and that more than likely he wouldn't be returning. He wanted to say so many things to her but the words just wouldn't come.

When she'd quietly told him she'd miss him and to be safe, his emotions went raw and all he could respond was "Babe" and then he disconnected.

There were several times during the mission where he thought he wouldn't make it back home and during those moments he wished he'd been honest with her and told her he loved her. The memory of her intoxicating smell, infectious smile, and open heart were what kept him driven and focused.

And now here he stood watching her once again, wondering about what was new in her life. He could have called Tank and gotten a report, but he didn't want to waste another moment. He wanted to see her, smell her, and take in her beauty.

He'd made a decision during the mandatory isolation period that was imposed after every mission. He was going to profess his love for her and ask for a chance to make a life together. He just hoped she hadn't given up on him, and that the cop hadn't taken advantage of his long absence by pressuring her into marriage.

She began to rustle in her sleep, unconsciously murmuring his name. It always amazed him how for someone that was never really aware of her surroundings, she always seemed to sense his presence.

"Ranger?" She asked hesitantly.

He smiled to here his name on her lips. Her instinct to call his name out before anyone else's filled him with hope that he might not be too late after all.

"Babe." He whispered.

She covered her mouth as she yawned and then rubbed the sleep from her eyes before she asked, "When did you get back?"

"About an hour ago."

"And you came here first?" Her voiced squeaked.

He nodded. Not sure he could speak he was so overwhelmed by the fear that she wasn't happy to see him.

"Is it a problem Babe?"

"No." She quickly shot out, "It's just that well…it's been such a long time."

"Yeah, too long. There were days I didn't think I'd make it back."

Her head snapped and she stared at him in shock. Had Ranger really just volunteered unsolicited information?

Her shock turned into something else as his words penetrated her sleepy haze. As the realization of almost losing him hit her, she began to hyperventilate. Her face went white, her hands clammy and the room began to spin. Her worst fear had almost been realized.

Ranger ran to her side and gently pushed her head between her legs, telling her to push up on his hand.

It took a few minutes for Stephanie to regain control of her breathing and to get some of her color back.

"Babe, are you okay?" He asked with his voice laced with concern.

Stephanie wanted to die of embarrassment. She hadn't seen Ranger for months and the first thing he sees is her having a panic attack.

With his hand, he raised her chin so she was forced to look him in the eyes. "How long have you been having panic attacks?"

She tried to look down but he wouldn't let her, so she moved her gaze to right above his shoulder and shrugged. "I don't know…a couple of months, I guess. I really don't get them very often. It's really no big deal." She hoped he bought her nonchalance and didn't continue to ask more questions.

Unfortunately she wasn't that lucky. To the normal observer he looked unaffected by the information, but Steph had learned to read him. His right hand fisted turning his knuckles white and his jaw clenched, letting her know he was trying to control his anger. When he surprised her with a rapid fire of questions she was having a hard time following.

"Are you sick? Is everything okay? Did something happen to you while I was away? Do you have another psycho after you? Where the hell is Morelli? Why isn't he taking care of you, if you're having these attacks?"

She just watched him in fascination. He hadn't been back more than an hour and he was already assessing her problem and trying to figure out how to fix it.

"Ranger, it's okay. I'm fine." She wasn't really, but she didn't want him to worry about her. She could see the lines of fatigue around his eyes and he was a lot thinner. It was clear to her that he'd been through some really bad stuff and the last thing he needed was to feel responsible to come to her rescue.

He knew she was lying and usually he'd let things go when they made her uncomfortable. He'd just find another way to get the information he wanted to know, but he couldn't drop it this time. He needed to have his questions answered.

This woman had gotten under his skin and worked herself into the farthest recesses of his heart. There would never be another woman for him. He was madly and passionately in love with this quirky, beautiful, loyal, smart woman who led a life that was just as crazy as his own, and he was finally man enough to admit it. Now the only thing that was left to do was to find the courage to tell her and hope she felt the same way.

"I'm sorry Babe. I know I asked a lot of questions that I really don't have a right to ask, but could you humor me and answer them anyway?"

"Okay." It didn't occur to her not to do as he asked.

She took a few minutes to gather her thoughts. And to wrap her mind around the realization that Ranger was back and his first stop was to see her.

It had been a long time since she'd stopped asking Tank about him. It wasn't that she didn't care or want to know about his well being, it's just that it hurt too much to even think about the possibility of him not returning.

For the first few months that he was gone, she'd asked Tank on a regular basis if he'd heard from him and if he knew if he was okay. At first she was mad at him for holding back information, but as the months passed she realized that Tank was telling her the truth. She still remembered the last time she asked about him.

"_Hey Tank, it's Steph." _

"_Hey Bomber, do you need help with an FTA?" _

"_No. No…nothing like that. I know I've asked this a million times but I just called to see if you'd heard from Ranger. You know if he's okay? I know you can't give me details, but if you could just let me know he's okay. Can you do that for me Tank?"_

_Tank sighed. "Stephanie, I wish I could tell you something, but like I said before I haven't heard from him. I'm not trying to evade your questions; I just don't have any information. The only thing I can tell you is that the operation was extremely covert and dangerous and no one is allowed to communicate with the outside. All any of us can do is hope for a speedy return." _

_Her heart stopped and her breathing became ragged as she assimilated what Tank was saying and the impact of what he was not saying. Ranger may not come back home. _

_She began to see black spots and she was losing the ability to breath. Tank sensed her panic and raised his voice at her. "Stephanie, are you okay? Where are you? Is anyone with you? Bomber!" He yelled. _

_She was able to focus for a few minutes. She needed to get off the phone fast before Tank realized she was having a meltdown. _

_Trying to keep her voice steady she replied, "Yeah Tank, I'm fine. I just got a little winded. I was climbing up a flight of stairs as we were talking." Tank knew it was a lie, but he let her slide. He had just given her a lot to think about, so he kept the conversation moving with routine dialogue. _

"_If you say so Bomber. Do you need any help with your skips today?" _

"_No. I'm good. I just have a couple of the regulars today, but thanks." _

"_Anytime. You know that we're all here for you if you need us." _

"_Thanks Tank, I appreciate that. I'll talk to you later." She replied sincerely and disconnected. _

And that's when her panic attacks began. For the first couple of weeks, she'd walked around as if she was in mourning. She lost her appetite; she avoided people and only went to her parent's house under duress. Joe started to pump her for answers about her behavior, not understanding why she'd had this sudden change in mood, but she knew better than to ever mention her concern for Ranger's life, so she became stoic.

And then one day, he'd heard through the grapevine that Ranger was in the wind and no one knew if he'd be coming back. When he relayed the information to Stephanie, her reaction told him everything. At the mention of Ranger not making it back, she experienced one of her panic attacks.

_He'd helped her through it and then with a saddened expression he asked her, "It's Ranger…isn't it? The reason you've changed so much?" _

_She couldn't continue to deny her feelings for Ranger. It wasn't fair to Joe, so she nodded. _

_He blew a long breath out. "Shit Cupcake, I don't know what to say. I knew that there was an attraction between you, but I thought it would pass. In the end, I thought you'd come to your senses and marry me. But that isn't ever going to happen is it?" He resignedly asked. _

_The lump that had formed in her throat wouldn't let her speak. As tears slowly fell down her cheek, she shook her head. _

"_I...I'm sorry Joe." She sobbed, "I never meant to hurt you. It's not that I don't love you because I do, it's just that without me realizing it, I fell in love with him and now I've probably lost him forever." _

"_Aaah, come on Steph, don't cry. Please? You know I can't stand to see you cry." _

_But she'd been holding it in for so long that once the tears began she couldn't stop them. He pulled her into his embrace and let her cry herself out, telling her the whole time that everything would work out._

_When she was finally cried out, she pulled back to look him in the eye and with a small voice she pleaded, "Please tell me we can still be friends? That I won't lose you, too." _

"_Shh…" He murmured, "Don't worry Cupcake, you can't get rid of me that easily. I'll always be here for you." _

"_Thanks Joe."_

_He'd kissed the top of her head and pulled away from her. "Okay, I think you need to get some rest and I need to go." _

"_Okay. And thanks Joe for being so understanding. I know it couldn't have been easy to hear what I had to say." _

"_I think deep down, I already knew it." _

_She didn't know what to say to that, so she just stayed quiet. _

_He walked towards her door and just as he was going to open it, he turned and gave her a bittersweet smile. "Hey Cupcake…"_

"_Yeah, Joe?" _

"_We had some good times together, right?" _

"_The best Joe." _

"_Yeah…that's what I thought. I'll be seeing you around Steph." _

"_Yeah…I'll see you." _

"Babe, I smell burning." Ranger teased her, hoping that he could lift the melancholy that set into her as she relived an obviously painful memory.

"Oh I'm sorry. I guess I'm still a little groggy." She fibbed to deflect any further probing.

"You were going to answer my questions." He gently reminded her.

"Yeah." She took a deep breath before she continued, "Let's see if I remember them all. You were shooting them out pretty fast. No, I'm not sick; Yes, I'm fine; No, I don't have any psychos after me, and Morelli is with his girlfriend Susan."

She watched him as her responses sunk in.

"You're not with Morelli?" He asked incredulously.

She smiled at the answer that he honed in on. Maybe Batman isn't as unaffected as she'd thought.

"No Ranger, I'm not with Joe anymore. It's actually been four months since we broke up. He's dating a very nice woman named Susan. It seems pretty serious, much to my mother's chagrin."

"Why did you guys break up? Did he cheat on you? Hurt you?"

"No, nothing like that. We just realized that it wasn't going to happen for us. That we were too different and we'd never work in the long run." She wasn't about to tell him that her love for him was the real reason.

She was just getting used to the idea that he'd made it home safely. She couldn't deal with his rejection…not right now. Hell, who was she kidding, she would be devastated by his rejection no matter when it took place.

He seemed nervous. She tilted her head and studied him. Why was he acting so fidgety…so un-Ranger like?

"Are you okay Ranger?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just taking all of your news in. But you still haven't told me what triggered your panic attacks."

Shit. She was hoping he had forgotten about that. Fat chance. This was Batman after all nothing escaped his attention.

How could she tell him enough of the truth without coming off as pathetic?

She got an idea. It wasn't really the truth anymore but it had been nine months ago, so it wasn't as if she was completely lying. "I've been getting them off and on since Stiva kidnapped me. I guess it's kind of like that post traumatic stress stuff soldiers get."

He nodded. It made sense. There were plenty of cases where a person didn't experience PTS until many months and sometimes years after the actual event. Denying the event until their body and mind could actually deal with it. His Babe was a master at denial so it really didn't seem that farfetched.

She felt horrible lying to Ranger, but at the same time was relieved that he seemed to accept her excuse.

"Are they really bad?" He asked.

"Not anymore. I hardly get them now. And I'm optimistic that I'm at the tail end of them." She hoped with Ranger back, they'd go away.

"So…are you here for a while or will you be in the wind soon?"

"I may go out of town on Rangeman business, but not because of a mission if that's what you're asking."

She let out a breath she didn't realize she'd been holding, as relief flooded her body. "Yeah, I guess that is what I was asking. But, how can you be so sure?"

He gave her his first full-blown smile. "Because, I'm done. That was my last mission. My duty has been fulfilled. I'm officially a free agent."

A smile began to spread across her face. "Really?"

"Really."

Before she knew what she was saying she blurted out, "It's good to have you home Ranger. I've missed you."

Never realizing how much he wanted to hear those words, he responded. "It's good to be home. And I've missed you, too."

Wanting to lighten the mood. Worried that she was going to scare him with her forthrightness, she said. "This feels like old times. You breaking into my apartment like this."

"Yeah it does. I wasn't sure if I was still welcome." He said as he gave her his almost smile.

"Ranger, you'll always be welcomed here."

"Promise?"

"Promise, but only on one condition." She made a split second decision. She wasn't going to wait anymore. Even if he rejected her, she needed to know if they had a chance.

He cocked his eyebrow and waited her out.

She took a deep breath for courage and while blowing it out she rushed her words. "Thatyoupromisetobreakineverynight."

His whole body stilled as her words washed over him. She wanted him too. She was going to finally be his. He knew it wouldn't be easy, but he was sure it would be worth it.

"That's a promise I can keep."

Her mouth gaped open. Did she hear him right?

"Ranger...please don't tease me like that. I love you and I couldn't stand the disappointment when you changed your mind. And I know that after being home for a while, you'd change your mind." She sadly replied.

He grabbed her by the arms and held her close to his chest. Burying his nose in her hair and inhaling her scent. Lost in the simplicity of holding her in his arms again. "Babe." He whispered in her ear, "I love you, too."

She waited for the qualifier but it never came, so she nudged him. "But…"

He wanted to kick himself for the self-doubt he'd created in her, but he made a silent promise that if she accepted him fully into her life, he'd do everything in his power to make it up to her.

"No buts Babe…just I.Love.You." He punctuated each word with a kiss.

She looked up into his face with tears of joy and the most beautiful smile he'd ever seen.

"Come home with me?"

"Back to Haywood?"

"No. Home."

"The Bat Cave?" She asked in shock, "are you sure?"

"Absolutely. I don't want to deny my feelings for you anymore. I want to wake up every day and see your beautiful face. Other than that I can't promise you anything except for my love and loyalty. I guess the question now is if that's enough for you?"

His words were more beautiful than any marriage proposal she'd ever heard. She realized she didn't need marriage, just someone to love her completely and unconditionally. And she knew that was what he was offering her in his own way.

She leaned into him and gently kissed his lips and whispered, "It's enough."

The End.

**A/N: My muse requires lots of stroking, so please review and let me know what you think. Thanks!**


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